


The Devil's Eyes

by darkling59



Series: Annals of the Incomplete [34]
Category: Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark, but it's Repo, so of course it's dark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 00:58:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3550172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkling59/pseuds/darkling59
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mag finds out about Nathan's 'job' when she goes to talk to Shiloh the night before the opera.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Devil's Eyes

As Mag watched the stony expression of her one time friend, a sick feeling of helplessness clawed at her chest. He had been…well, not her last hope. She’d never expected him to save her life.

He had been her hope for peace, her last loose end before her self-imposed death sentence would be carried out.

“Nathan…”

For a split second his eyes darted to hers and then away again, as if disgusted. Her eyes, she realized, were keeping him from looking at her. They were a symbol of her cage, of Rotti’s ownership.

“Please leave, Mag.”

No expression, no tone, nothing. It was as if she were a stranger. Was it because she belonged to Rotti? Because of her connection to Marni?

A stirring of anger threaded through the helplessness. She had done nothing wrong. His misery was understandable but HE was the one refusing to let her in and that was not her fault. She hadn’t survived this long by letting the actions of others dictate how she should feel. Nathan might be an old friend but he sure wasn’t acting like one. And she still had a bone to pick with him.

“Not yet, Nate.”

He went rigid.

“You told me Shilo was dead. Why would you do that?” She couldn’t keep the hurt out of her tone.

“Mag.” His voice was a warning rumble.

“I haven’t heard from you in seventeen years, and the first evidence I get that you’re even still alive is when Rotti introduces me to the god-daughter you told me had died? You LIED to me, Nathan!”

“Mag…” the warning rumble was very nearly a snarl. She didn’t have much time left.

“Marni was like a sister to me, Nate! You knew I would want to be there for Shilo! I’ve spent the last seventeen years playing Rotti’s lapdog, all alone! And Shilo! You keep her locked in her room? She’s a teenager, Nate! She needs to learn how to fly!”

“You have no idea- “

“I would if you’d just tell me what’s going on! What kind of monster would keep a teenaged girl-.”

The medicine bottle cracked then crunched in Nathan’s hand and Mag’s tirade instantly ground to a halt. She gaped in horror at the blood dripping from his palm, then realized he still wasn’t moving but he was shaking. Suddenly, she didn’t know what was going on.

“Nate…?”

“What sort of…monster…,hm?” his voice was a rough snarl, deeper and more savage than she had ever though possible from Nathan. Something was very, very wrong. For the first time, she felt a thread of unease crawl down her spine. And for someone accustomed to Luigi’s outbursts of savagery, that was saying something.

The shaking stopped and he suddenly stood tall, shoulders squaring back out of the defeated slump she hadn’t even realized he was wearing. The bloodstained bottle fell to the ground in multiple pieces. What was going on?

He moved so fast she didn’t even see it.

One second she was standing in the middle of the entryway, watching the bottle fall, the next, she was slammed against the opposite wall, one of his hands wrapped almost completely around her neck. She choked, more in shock than loss of air, and tried to meet his eyes.

What she saw made her stop breathing altogether.

His eyes were glowing bright zydrate blue. The eyes of a repo man.

For a split second, emotions warred in her mind. Fear, horror, resignation, pain, understanding, sadness, confusion....sorrow.

Her hand came up to rest on his cheek, taking no account of his snarl or the monstrous eyes staring into her own inhuman orbs. His hand was restraining but not squeezing.

“Oh Nate…” the eyes blinked and his head cocked in a strange, wolf-like gesture. “what has he done to you?”

They widened and for a moment she could see his pupils through the eerie glow, staring straight into her eyes for the first time since her operation…that is to say, the first time ever. She met the gaze of both man and beast without flinching.

His grip loosened then dropped altogether and the two did not move for a long second. Nathan was the one to finally break the silence, sighing deeply and dipping his head in resignation, relaxing back into his slumped, submissive posture. Mag watched in fascination as the glow in his eyes dimmed, receding towards his pupils, then died altogether, leaving him refusing to look at her once again.

He didn’t look at her as he opened the closet door to her left and took out a brush and dustpan then cleaned up what was left of the medicine beaker.

She stood still, mind boggled by what had happened. Her questions had been answered and now she wished she was still ignorant. She’d thought Nathan escaped because of Rotti’s lingering feelings for Marni…apparently she’d been wrong. Rotti had turned him into the one thing he had always despised: a killer.

But not a monster. No, as Mag watched him, she finally saw his self-hatred and pain in the way he moved; his eyes darted around, watching everything at the same time, his hands were graceful but slow, as if tired, and his shoulders never came out of their defeated slump. Mag had a feeling that he remembered every single life he had claimed, and that he mourned them all.

“You need to leave, Mag.” His voice was normal again, if quieter.

“Nathan-.”

“No, Mag. Go, just…go.”

Mag felt her heart tear at the words but nodded and took a step towards the door. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob, debating internally.

“Will I see you again tonight? At the opera?”

No response.

She nodded slowly and began to open the door.

“…No…”

The response was so low, she almost missed it. She was probably intended to miss it.

“NO?”

He seemed to be ignoring her, looking up the stairs towards Shilo’s room.

This time the cold thread was panic, fear for him rather than herself.

“Nathan, I know how Rotti’s mind works. He would never give up this chance to torment you. He ordered you to repossess my eyes, didn’t he?”

It was a demand, not a question and Nathan’s eyes glowed slightly in response. Irritation, she realized after a minute.

“He did.” his voice was gruff but not that the nasally snarl.

She waited expectantly but when he didn’t continue she scowled and took a step towards him, away from the door. “So…?”

“…I said no.”

“You…” the cold thread of panic turned into a bucketful of ice water. “No, Nathan, you didn’t…”

“He went too far this time, Mag. He ordered me to take you out…I couldn’t do it. Can’t. I won’t do it.”

“He’ll kill you!” her sudden yell was shrill and seemed to echo through the empty house.

He flinched and shrugged, turning away. “I’ve been dead for seventeen years, Mag. I died the day Marni did. The day I became…what I am.”

The truth in his words was horrible. He truly believed them. She closed her eyes, remorse flooding her veins. All this time she had wondered why he did not contact her, did not try to get involved in her life. Now she knew why; it was because he was falling apart. She should have been there to catch him when he fell, as a friend and fellow mourner. Instead, he had never stopped falling and ended up in the worst kind of hell; one run by a master manipulator who knew Nathan inside and out.

It was her fault for leaving him alone.

And now…now…they were both ready to die. She opened her eyes as a new layer of realization settled in.

“Nathan, what about Shilo?”

He snorted, laughing humorlessly. “My parenting skills? That’s what you’re focusing on?”

“That’s not what I meant, Nate. We’ve both violated our contracts. What’s going to happen to Shilo when we’re…well, when you’re gone?”

“She needs her medicine.” He went to the small table that had housed the old bottle of medication and took a new one out of the drawer.

“Nathan?”

“I don’t know.” He didn’t look up. “She’s sick. I didn’t plan…I couldn’t do it Mag. I couldn’t.”

Finally, he looked at her, pleading for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not being able to kill her. She couldn’t stop the swell of warmth she felt when she realized that meant he still cared for her, that his anger and ignorance had been an act…nor did it stop the slight guilt that rode in afterwards.

“I know.” She touched his shoulder and he flinched but did not pull away.

Silence fell; it was not exactly comfortable but, for the first time in seventeen years, it finally felt familiar.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure why Nathan's eyes glow...I know they don't in the canon verse. I think I just wanted to give an indelible sign of 'this is a repo man'. ex. Even if he was able to hang up the suit, to bury his past, Nathan's eyes will always glow when he's upset or angry - a repo man is a repo man until he dies.


End file.
